Portsmouth Guildhall hosts conferences, meetings, seminars, training days, exhibitions, award ceremonies, dinners, parties and weddings in nine spaces, from a six-person boardroom to a main auditorium with 2,000 seats. The building stands on Guildhall Square in the center of Portsmouth, a two-minute walk from Portsmouth and Southsea station, and is operated by The Guildhall Trust, a registered charity. The venue reports about 400 events and 80,000 delegates a year.
Seminars and company events
The Main Auditorium is the room for large conferences, launches and live events. Its 2,000 seats were all replaced in a recent £600,000 upgrade that added premium seats with extra space, and a flexible seating system lets the floor switch between conference, exhibition, dinner and concert layouts. A new sound desk improves presentations. For breakout sessions and mid-size meetings, the Portsmouth Room takes up to 100, Meeting Room 1 up to 40 and Meeting Room 2 up to 30, and the Solent Suite seats six for a board meeting. The Lens Studio, the Zodiac Gallery and the Freda Swain Lounge each hold up to 200 for workshops, networking or exhibitions. An in-house technical team handles sound, light and staging, and an event team stays with the organizer from the first request to the day after. Team building programs can be added to a conference day.
Weddings and receptions
Two rooms are licensed for ceremonies of up to 100 guests: the Portsmouth Room and the Lord Mayor's Banqueting Room, the latter with high ceilings, original features and tall windows. The wedding breakfast can be served in the Zodiac Gallery for up to 88, under its acid-stained glass mural, and the Freda Swain Lounge takes up to 200 for the evening reception, with a dance floor, a full bar and floor-to-ceiling windows over Guildhall Square. Asian weddings can welcome up to 750 guests. Couples can book the whole day or only part of it, and the building can be lit in their colors.
Rooms and capacities
The venue publishes one maximum figure per space, without layout breakdowns: Main Auditorium 2,000, Lens Studio 200, Zodiac Gallery 200, Freda Swain Lounge 200, Lord Mayor's Banqueting Room 110, Portsmouth Room 100, Meeting Room 1 40, Meeting Room 2 30 and Solent Suite 6. The conferencing team supplies layout figures and dimensions on request.
Accommodation
The Guildhall has no bedrooms. More than 1,000 hotel rooms are within a mile of the building.
Catering
Catering is prepared on site by the Head Chef and kitchen team, with fresh, locally sourced ingredients. Menus can be written for the event and cover all dietary needs, from conference breaks to wedding breakfasts and drinks packages.
History and setting
The Guildhall is a Grade II listed civic building in a neoclassical style and has served the city as a venue for about 125 years. It was heavily damaged by bombing in 1941 and rebuilt after the war, reopening in 1959. The venue is accredited by the Meetings Industry Association.
Getting there
Portsmouth and Southsea station is two minutes away on foot. Eight car parks lie within half a mile of the building, which helps for exhibitors and delegates arriving by car.
